Why³ with Director A. Nora Long | The Wolves

We sat down with Director A. Nora Long to learn what makes The Wolves one of the most impressive new plays in recent years!

Why is this play important?

There are few groups as universally-maligned as teenage girls. The vast majority of our pop culture representations portray them as vain, shallow, cruel, and vapid. Delappe affords us a nuanced, funny, thoughtful insight into the lives of young women, as they wrestle through the rather fraught process of growing-up, focusing on their humanity, in all its wonders and flaws, and their athleticism. Make no mistake, this is a play about a team of competitive athletes. These players are seeking immediate victories but also future security and college scholarships. Like soldiers preparing for battle, we see our heroes in moments of vulnerability and triumph, brash confidence and blistering defeat. And they keep coming back each Saturday for another shot at glory. It is a story of perseverance in the face of adversity, a celebration of the human spirit, and a showcase of the extraordinary abilities of the body. In short, it is a great fucking play.

Why is the Lyric Stage the right fit for this play?

Young women are, by far, the largest demographic in the local casting pool. After spending years seeing thousands of brilliant actors for the odd part as the girlfriend, the daughter, or the broad in the tower, finding a beautiful story that plays to our community’s strengths was an obvious fit for Lyric Stage’s long-standing commitment to local artists. Lyric audiences have always prized rich, character-driven stories that offer them a unique perspective on the world. The Wolves is an astonishing play that does all that and more. Also, where else can you get the feeling of sitting pitch-side at the City Sports Dome indoor soccer field arena?

Why is this play important to do now?

It’s always the right time to do great plays, but as the national conversation seeks to be more inclusive of the experiences of under-represented groups, a play about young women as human beings and athletes feels particularly of the moment. If the future is female, have no doubt, the future is coming.

January 11 – February 3, 2019

Left quad. Right quad. Lunge. A girls’ indoor soccer team warms up. From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, the team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. As the author says, “I wanted to see a portrait of teenage girls as human beings – as complicated, nuanced, very idiosyncratic people, athletes and daughters and students and scholars and people who are trying actively to figure out who they are in this changing world around them.”

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